Acoustic noise in a work environment may cause hearing damage or hearing loss if the noise level exceeds a safety threshold. Monitoring the level of acoustic noise is therefore important for identifying areas of a work environment where safety levels may be exceeded and particular times during a production process when noise may exceed safety levels. Based on the measurements, decisions can be made on how long a worker may be permitted to work at the certain location or which places are excluded for people to work in.
Examples of products for noise monitoring are the Norsonic Nor140™ sound level meter (www.norsonic.com) and the Brüel & Kjær 2260 Investigator™ (www.bksv.com). These are hand-held instruments, normally operated by persons with specific expertise such as acoustical consultants.
The above vendors also provide stationary noise measurement solutions. Typical application areas are road-traffic noise and aircraft noise measurements at single locations. The detectors are not designed with process industry in mind.
For long-term noise monitoring, Brüel & Kjær offers the Noise Sentinel™ service. This is a subscription-based monitoring service designed to support various industries to monitor and report compliance with noise restrictions and to help manage noise impact. It is a subscription-based system where a customer leases hardware and collected data are stored at a central operation centre at the vendor.